ICC meeting, the man behind Sukma attack: Top stories to bring you up to date

Here are the top stories you need to read this morning.

Relatives and family members carrying the body of Surender Thakur for cremation at his native place, Ner Chowk Mandi on Tuesday. 25 CRPF personnel were killed on Monday in a Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district. (PTI Photo)

The BJP retained power in Delhi’s three municipal corporations for a third consecutive term on Wednesday, in what is seen as an overwhelming rejection of the Aam Aadmi Party just two years after it won a majority in the Delhi assembly elections. The emphatic victory adds to BJP’s image of invincibility and leaves a divided opposition demoralised in the run up to key state elections next year and the national polls in 2019.

But the setback was the worst for AAP chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. The defeat calls into question Kejriwal’s ability to win elections after his party’s crushing defeat in assembly polls in Goa and Punjab last month. Read the story here.

Pakistan captures 23 Indian fishermen off Gujarat coast

The Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) on Wednesday apprehended 23 Indian fishermen and seized four of their boats off the Gujarat coast, an official of Porbandar-based National Fishworkers’ Forum (NFF) said. These fishermen had sailed from Porbandar a few days ago and were apprehended by the PMSA near the International Maritime Border Line (IMBL).

“We have learnt that at least 23 fishermen on four boats were apprehended by the PMSA near Jakhau and they were being taken to Karachi,” the official said. Read the story here.

This 32-yr-old Maoist could be mastermind of Sukma ambush that killed 25 CRPF personnel

A 32-year-old battle-hardened Maoist commander has emerged as the likely mastermind behind the massacre of 25 CRPF troopers in Chhattishgarh, police said on Wednesday, as the focus shifted to repeated intelligence failures that have led to severe losses for security forces battling rebels in the hotbed of Left-wing insurgency.

Considered one of the most dreaded Maoist leaders in Bastar, the hotbed of Maoist insurgency in the country, Hidma was born in Purvati village of south Sukma. His area of operation comprises south Sukma, Dantewada and Bijapur. Read the story here.

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has again attacked the Raman Singh government in Chhattisgarh for its failure to curb the Maoist threat in the state which claimed the lives of 25 CRPF troopers on April 24. Singh, who was in Nagpur on Wednesday said that there was total collapse of co-ordination between the para-military force and the local police which it made it easy for the Maoists to ambush the CRPF troopers in Sukama.

He claimed that failure of co-ordination between the state police and the para-military forces were even endorsed by an injured CRPF jawan recovering in hospital. Read the full story here.

BCCI bosses end up with egg on face in crucial International Cricket Council meeting

The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI’s) hopes of retaining the Big Three financial model have been dashed with the member boards voting against it at the International Cricket Council Board meeting in Dubai on Wednesday.

The ‘Big Three’ model was put in place in 2014 under the ICC chairmanship of N Srinivasan. In that model, the India, Australia and England boards were to get the lion’s share of the ICC revenues, with the reasoning that they contributed a larger share to the ICC revenue. Read the story here.

India warns against different approaches to Taliban and Islamic State

India on Wednesday issued a tacit warning about the danger of a policy of targeting the Islamic State in Afghanistan while making overtures to the Taliban to join peace talks, saying such an approach could erode the gains made in the war-torn country.

A policy of “zero tolerance towards violence and terrorism” and continued efforts to consolidate the Afghan government’s capacity to deal with violence and promote development are essential, defence minister Arun Jaitley said in Russia during a speech at the Moscow Conference on International Security. Read the story here.

The Pakistani military on Wednesday launched a propaganda campaign against India and Afghanistan by releasing a “confessional” video from a former Pakistani Taliban spokesman who claimed the spy agencies of the two countries had funded terrorism in Pakistan. The video, featuring Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, received extensive coverage in the local media. In the video, he said “They (the Taliban leadership) got their (Indian) support, their funding and took money for every activity they did. They pushed the (Taliban) soldiers on the front lines to fight against the Pakistan Army and went into hiding themselves.”

The ongoing immunization drive against Japanese Encephalitis has stumbled upon a major roadblock in Muslim inhabited localities of Jharkhand’s coal belt Dhanbad and Bokaro districts. Mobs have taken immunization workers hostage and thrashed them for ”forcibly” administering medicines to children to suppress their fertility and check the Muslim population.

Justifying the manhandling incidents, a section of Muslim leaders in the two districts have gone on to allege that the health workers were executing a ploy by the BJP governments in the Centre as well as in the state to make Muslim children ”impotent” and ”infertile”. Read the story here.

US: Islamophobic incidents up by 1,000% since Trump took office

The number of Islamophobia incidents involving US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials has increased by around 1,000% since President Donald Trump took office in January, according to a Muslim activist group. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said preliminary data collated from its branches across the country, found that instances in which officials were accused of profiling Muslims accounted for 23% of its caseload in the first three months of 2017. Read the story here.

Sikh cop in Canada denied promotion because of ‘race’

A Sikh police officer in Canada had been denied a promotion into the senior ranks because of his race and cultural background, a media report said. Staff sergeant Baljiwan Sandhu, a decorated officer with 28 years of service on the Peel police force, had sought a promotion to inspector in 2013.

The adjudicator of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario said that “The applicant’s race, ancestry, place of origin, and/or ethnic origin were factors in his failure to be recommended for promotion …and as such I find that the applicant has been subject to discrimination because of race”. Read the story here.

Kolkata Knight Riders maintained their winning record at the MCA Stadium on Wednesday after romping to their straight sixth victory here with a seven-wicket win over Rising Pune Supergiant. Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa forged a 158-run second wicket partnership to chase down 182 with 11 balls to spare. Read the full story here.